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OUISIANA 




PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINOOTT COMPANY. 

1890. 



LOUISIANA 



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PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1890. ■ 



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Copyright, 1890, by J. B. Lippincott Company. 



■ ^STEBEOTYPERSandPRIN^R^ 



LOUISIANA. 



Louisiana, one of the Gulf states of the Amer- 
ican Union, extends about 200 miles from north to 
south and 290 from east to west. Its land area, in- 
cluding the marshes bordering on the Gulf, is 40,790 
sq. m. ; its inland waters cover 2328 sq. m.; total 
area, 43,118 sq. m. This area is divided nearly 
equally between alluvial lands and uplands. The 
mean elevation of the state above sea-level is 75 
feet, its highest point 484 feet. For 25 miles inland 
from the Gulf, marshes subject to tidal flow cover 
one-eighth of the state's entire surface; low, sandy 
pine flats and prairie lands occupy about one-eigh- 
teenth each, arable lands one-eighth, the flood-plains 
near the rivers one-tenth, and blufl" lands, pine hills, 
and uplands more than one-fifth each. Most of the 
large rivers flow above the level of the surrounding 
country on ridges formed by their own deposits, and 
the plains around, protected by dykes (called levees), 
slope away into dense, wooded swamps. The bot- 
tom-lands of the Mississippi are from 20 to 70 miles 
in breadth, those of the Red, Ouachita, and other 
streams range from 6 to 20 miles. But although the 



4 LOUISIANA. 

flood-plains lie below, there is a large area above the 
rivers' high-water mark. The uplands embrace all 
the northern and north-eastern parts of the state, 
inclining gently towards the south, and crossing 
these are bluff lands, extending through the alluvial 
lands to the Gulf, and forming wonderful ' islands' 
covered with vegetation. Nor is the immense plain 
surrounding these bluffs ever inundated, but elevated 
and fertile, traversed by deep bayous (as minor and 
tributary streams are called here). Even in the coast 
marshes occasionally an island-hill rises, with soil 
firm and fertile ; and at other points cattle graze, 
whilst thousands of acres yearly are being drained 
and reclaimed and planted with rice. Besides the 
Mississippi the chief rivers are the Red, Sabine, 
Ouachita, and Pearl ; the entire river navigation of 
the state reaches nearly 3800 miles, and there are 
also several considerable lakes. 

The mean temperature of Louisiana is from 60° 
to 75° F., the climate being softened by the waters 
within and around the state, the profuse rainfall (47 
to 73 in.), and the breezes from the Gulf The vege- 
tation in most parts is luxuriant. The forests are 
dense with trees — pine, cypress, oaks, cotton-wood, 
magnolia, poplar, beech, &c. Fruits are abundant, 
oranges and figs the most important. The yield of 
the staple crops in 1889 was: Cotton (1,107,59$ 
acres), 475,079 bales; sugar (216,740 acres), 409,669 
barrels of molasses, 208,259 hhd. of sugar, 331,538 
barrels of sugar; rice (93,534 acres), 1,1 55,256 barrels; 
maize (973,372 acres), 13,459,734 bushels. 

The principal manufactures are shingles and tanks, 



LOUISIANA. 5 

cotton-seed oil, machinery, tobacco, and clothing and 
boots and shoes (by machinery), besides the cleaning 
and polishing of rice and the refining of sugar and 
molasses. The only mineral of importance is rock- 
salt, which is found in inexhaustible quantity at Petit 
Anse on Avery's Island ; but hematite iron ore and 
sulphur have also been discovered, besides lignite of 
little, if any, value. 

Louisiana is divided, not into counties, but parishes 
to the number of 59. The other officials are elected 
in the usual manner, but the judges of the supreme 
court are appointed by the governor for a term of 
twelve years. Those of the courts of appeal are 
elected by the General Assembly for eight years, 
and in the country districts and in New Orleans the 
judges of the district courts are appointed by the 
governor, being elsewhere elected for four years. 
The civil law prevails in Louisiana, a code based on 
the Code Napoleon having been adopted in 1825. 
The state returns six members to congress. Educa- 
tion is fairly well provided for, and increased atten- 
tion is being devoted to the free schools. The State 
University and Agricultural and Mechanical College 
is at Baton Rouge, the State Normal School at Nat- 
chitoches ; the Southern University, at New Orleans, 
is endowed by the state, and in the same city is the 
Tulane University, with departments for ladies and 
for training in the manual arts. There are asylums 
for the blind and deaf and dumb at Baton Rouge, 
and for lunatics at Jackson, besides a large hospital 
at New Orleans, all supported by the state. 

History, — The present state forms part of the 



6 LOUISIANA. 

province of Louisiana purchased from the French 
in 1803 for ;^ 1 2,000,000. In 1682 La Salle (q.v.) 
sailed down the river and claimed the country for 
France, naming it Louisiana in honour of Louis XIV., 
and planting a colony at a point 38 miles below the 
present site of New Orleans. After an unsuccessful 
attempt at colonisation by Iberville, the territory was 
handed over to the Mississippi Company, under John 
Law (see Mississippi Scheme), and New Orleans 
was founded. The company collapsed in 1720, and 
Louisiana reverted to the crown in 1732. It was 
ceded to Spain in 1762, retroceded to France in 
1800, and sold to the United States by Napoleon, for 
60,000,000 francs, three years later, being admitted 
as a state in 18 12, although the portion between the 
Mississippi and Pearl rivers was not actually acquired 
until the Florida purchase of 18 19. The battle of 
New Orleans (8th January 181 5) and several changes 
in the constitution are the only noteworthy events 
in its history until the civil war. Louisiana seceded 
in January 186 1, and New Orleans was captured on 
24th April 1862. More than a hundred battles were 
fought within the limits of the state, leaving ruin 
behind, whose effects are felt to this day. Prosperity, 
however, is returning, and is established on a basis 
more sound and satisfactory than of old. The 
finances of the state are in a healthy condition, her 
bonds nearly at par. Since 1877 political disturb- 
ances and outbreaks which had followed the period 
of reconstruction have ceased, railways have been 
extended, and the assessed valuation of property 
enormously increased; and Louisiana's chief troubles 



LOUISIANA. y 

have been from the bursting of the levees, although 
none have proved so disastrous as the terrible flood 
of 1874, when one-sixth of the state was inundated. 
See C. Gayarre, History of Louisiana (3d ed. 4 vols. 
New Orleans, 1885). 

Population. — The principal cities are New Orleans, 
Shreveport, Baton Rouge (the capital), and Monroe, 
all the subject of separate articles. The population 
is very mixed. The negroes in the country districts 
are somewhat in excess of the whites, of whom 
about one-sixth each are of French (some Acadian), 
German, or Irish descent. Those of French descent 
are called Creoles — a term which in Louisiana does 
not imply any admixture of African or Indian blood. 
There are also a number of Spanish and Italian de- 
scent. In most of the southern parishes French is 
habitually spoken by the people ; and Spanish also 
is still retained. Pop. (1820) 153,407; (i860) 708,002, 
including 326,726 slaves and 18,527 free coloured 
people; (1880)939,946; (1890) 1,102,535. 



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